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Aloha from Kauai! This is a good a time as any to return to the world of blogging and what a better setting than in paradise and where everyone is happy. It’s like Disney World by the beach.

My husband is presentating at a conference this week and the awesome organisers decided that Kauai would be the perfect setting to have hundreds of polymer chemists meet and work their brilliant minds together. How could I fault them for choosing this place? Well, I can’t and I won’t. I’m just thankful that I get to tag along for the ride.

Many are surprised to hear that neither Zach or I have ever been to the Aloha State. During the six years we lived in Missouri we never made the effort for a number of reasons. One, Hawaii is expensive, both in getting to and staying at and during our first years of marriage, we simply didn’t have the kind of savings to be spending galavanting around these islands. Two, whenever we took a holiday it was always to go visit my family in Australia. There just simply wasn’t enough time to justify a trip to Hawaii, with or without the extra money. And three, although Hawaii was appealing to us, it was never on the top of our list of places to visit.

But now that we have finally made it here, it’s now on our top ten of places to re-visit. What a beautiful state and its people are friendly and genuine. Sure everything is expensive (and will forever remain so, so let’s just accept that fact) but everything is also worth it. I work too damn hard working at my day job not to enjoy the fruits of my labor. Sure that salad we had for lunch may have converted to a $AUS25 lunch when all is said and done, but it was a darn good-sized salad at that. It is worth it. Life is honestly too short to not enjoy and spend the money we earn.

In the past 24 hours we have nearly covered the entire 52 acres of the Grand Hyatt Kauai Resort & Spa. Nearly. This place has seven different pools and we’ve only swam in two of them. Good thing they’re open 24 hours. We have an amazing view of the Pacific Ocean and the great thing about this place is when they say “ocean view” they actually mean a bona fide ocean view without any obstructions (besides the palm trees that line the property). We were greeted with an aloha and a lei as we arrived and the chorus of aloha and mahalo from every single employee here at the Grand Hyatt is enough to put you on a Kauai state of mind from the moment you wake up to when you say goodnight. It really is something else here.

Well, this post has become one big endoresement for the Hyatt brand so I guess I better stop. I guess what I wanted to say is that we are finishing 2015 off on the right note. The past 12 months has been rough. It has been a year to forget, one that I would do a do-over if it were possible. I can’t wait for Christmas and then to say goodbye to this horrid year. I will not be looking back. But in the meantime, I will enjoy this Hawaiian vacation, reflect on the blessings of the year and look forward to what 2016 will bring us.